MOGADISHU: Somalia’s militant group Al-Shabab has publicly whipped women for wearing bras they say violate Islam by constituting a deception, north Mogadishu residents said Friday.
The insurgent group amputated a foot and a hand each from two young men accused of robbery earlier this month. They have also banned movies, musical ringtones, dancing at weddings and playing or watching soccer.
Residents said gunmen had been rounding up any woman seen with a firm bust and then had them publicly whipped by masked men. The women were then told to remove their bras and shake their breasts.
“Al-Shabab forced us to wear their type of veil and now they order us to shake our breasts,” a resident, Halima, said, adding that her daughters had been whipped Thursday.
Abdullahi Hussein, a student in north Mogadishu, said his elder brother was thrown behind bars when he fought back a man who humiliated their sister by asking her to remove her bra.
Men were not spared either. Any man caught without a beard is publicly whipped.
“I was beaten and my hair was cut off with a pair of scissors in the street,” Hussein said. “They accused me of shaving my beard but I am only 18. They have arrested dozens of men and women.”
